Muslims in fear of new backlash

By GREG ANSLEY Australia correspondent

CANBERRA - Australia's large Muslim community is bracing itself for a backlash after the Bali bombing and harsh new anti-terrorism laws announced this week.

Dozens of complaints of harassment and vilification have already been reported to police in Sydney, which has the nation's largest Islamic population.

Community leaders have also expressed concern that Muslims will again be targeted as they were after the September 11 terror attacks, when agents from the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) raided homes under federal search warrants.

Fears were raised by comments from ASIO and Attorney-General Daryl Williams that al Qaeda and Jemaah Islamiyah, the Indonesian extremists suspected of the Bali bombing, had links with Australia.

Immigration Minister Philip Ruddock yesterday refused to confirm reports that a suspected al Qaeda member had been secretly deported from Melbourne after September 11.

The Sydney Morning Herald said Ahmad Al Joufi, a Saudi national, had arrived in Australia in March 1999 on a false passport to recruit fighters for a "holy war" against Russia.

The newspaper claimed Al Joufi had been a supporter of Osama bin Laden for 10 years and had fought in Chechnya, but had been arrested on serious assault and riotous affray charges after melees with local Muslims angry at his extreme views and alleged use of violence to exact donations for the war in Chechnya.

Ruddock said Al Joufi had been deported after an assessment of his character, his use of false documentation and criminal charges, but refused to confirm any links to al Qaeda.

New South Wales Police Commissioner Ken Moroney said there was no evidence of Jemaah Islamiyah operating within the state, and he hoped the new anti-terrorism laws would help defuse tensions.

But Australia's 148,000 Muslims have been regularly targeted.

ASIO reported six arson attacks against mosques - including the destruction of one in Brisbane - and three against Islamic schools in Sydney, Brisbane and Adelaide.

In other developments yesterday:

* Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri, under fire for what is seen as a passive response to the Bali bomb attack, made a surprise visit to the resort island yesterday.

Palace official Garibaldi Sudjatmiko said that besides visiting the bombsite, Megawati would meet local officials.

* Police said yesterday that it could be days before they can question Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Bashir over a string of deadly church bombings and his alleged links to a terrorist network.

Bashir, allegedly the spiritual leader of Jemaah Islamiyah, is in a police hospital in Jakarta, but police doctors said the 64-year-old's heart condition made it impossible for him to be questioned immediately.

- additional reporting AGENCIES